Zvonimir Boban has once again claimed that AC Milan were very close to signing Dominik Szoboszlai, before he ended up on a different path to Liverpool.
Szoboszlai first emerged as a reported target for Milan nearly six years ago. It was towards the end of the 2019-20 season under Stefano Pioli, who was expected to be replaced by Ralf Rangnick. The Austrian was believed to have submitted a large wish list of players to begin an overhaul, and the Hungarian was on it.
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However, in the end neither Rangnick nor Szoboszlai ended up arriving. Milan stuck with Pioli and would win the Scudetto in 2021-22, and though there were links with the attacking midfielder when he was at RB Leipzig, he instead went to Liverpool in the summer of 2023 for €70m.
Boban’s revelation
Zvonimir Boban was at Milan at the time of the links and he confirmed in the Sky studios last night that he could have signed the player who is now starring at Anfield. Calciomercato.com relayed his comments.
“He started out as a No.10, always playing behind the striker at Salzburg and Hungary. It was a problematic position, but now he’s transformed into a pure No.8, which was the only way he could become a champion,” Boban said.
“Extremely talented, he sees the game and touches the ball like few others in the world. Do I particularly like him? Of course I do. We [Milan] had already closed a deal for him, but then it didn’t happen.
“A wonderful player, I’m happy he won the war with himself and became a real player. He didn’t have the pace and one-on-one to play as a number one, he just couldn’t.”
